Down syndrome and precocious menopause

Abstract

We cannot conclude that mothers of children with DS will have precocious menopause. Nevertheless, our findings do not exclude the theory of reduced ovarian reserve as a primordial factor in the genesis of DS.

Are poor responders patients at higher risk for producing aneuploid embryos in vitro?

“…Poor responder patients appear to be at greater risk for fetal aneuploidy compared to patients with normal ovarian reserve [6,7]. Previous studies have demonstrated that women with a reduced follicular ovarian pool are at risk of a trisomic pregnancy, independent of age [8] and suggested that poor ovarian reserve is a primordial factor in the genesis of Down Syndrome [9]. Moreover, these patients also have significantly higher rates of pregnancy loss compared to patients with normal ovarian reserve [10].…”

A reduced size of the ovarian follicle pool is associated with an increased risk of a trisomic pregnancy in IVF-treated women

“…Compared with the other two groups, the women with a history of trisomic pregnancy entered menopause approximately 1 year earlier (0.96 years, 95% CI: 20.18 to 2.10) (Kline et al, 2000). Bartmann et al (2005) found that 104 mothers of a child with Down syndrome entered menopause 0.7 years earlier than 121 control mothers with a healthy child. In both studies, the difference in menopausal age between cases and controls was not statistically significant.…”

Early menopause in mothers of children with Down syndrome?

“…Bartmann et al (31) found that mothers who had experienced a Down syndrome pregnancy did indeed enter menopause 0.7 years than the control mothers. These signs of early menopause could be either frank presence of more women in the Down syndrome pregnancy group in menopause, more symptoms of menopause, or the use hormone treatment to combat menopause symptoms.…”